Citing Dr. King's Goodness

February 09, 1986|The Morning Call

To the Editor:

Harold Frable, in his recent letter to the editor, asked that Martin Luther King Day be repealed and the files on King now held in the National Archives be opened. According to Mr. Frable, Dr. King's "activities and associates" had been "centers of controversy" from "the first days" of King's involvement in the civil rights struggle. To have a national holiday honoring Dr. King, so claims the letter was a "victory" for "liberals and their sympathizers."

The controversy Mr. Frable spoke of was not begun by Dr. King but by a white, racial attitude that had made racial segregation the accepted way of life. I suppose that most of us in the Lehigh Valley were never denied a job or prevented from voting because of the color of our skin. Most of us have never been victims of racial segregation as were King and millions of other blacks, not in South Africa, but here, in the United States.

Numerous political, social and human changes were the result of Martin Luther King's work and that of his associates. Were they "subversives?" Hardly. King's associates were persons such as Ralph Abernathy, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young and thousands ofmen, women and children, who marched with King again and again, facing hostile crowds, water hoses, police and their dogs, harassment, imprisonment and, in some cases, death. If there was violence, it clearly was not on the side of those who marched.

What is particularly painful about Mr. Frable's letter is that it mentions absolutely nothing positive about Dr. King's life and work. It completely disregards and ignores the courageous steps taken by King. Instead, King is denounced and the civil rights movement discredited. Let them open the King files after 50 years: They may well reveal more about the questionable tactics advocated by J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI than about the non-violent actions taken by Dr. King.

The liberals and their sympathizers did not win a victory in creating a Martin Luther King Day. The victory was won by and for the American people, a victory for integration, equality, justice, freedom, decency and non-violence. People abroad admire the United States for recognizing and honoring King. The words spoken in Oslo when King received the Nobel Peace Prize make this quite clear.

Put the past behind you, Mr. Frable, try to remove some of the bad feelings and join all of those who see in King a great American and a source of inspiration and hope.